Recently, I drove from Michigan to Tampa for a much-needed vacation. While driving down, I decided to turn on the FieldCraft Survival podcast to pass the time. Usually, I will save a few episodes up to entertain me on long trips. Their latest episode touched on recent events of unrest and what it means to concealed carriers during this time. One of the head instructors, Raul Martinez, brought up a concept about being educated in society. He made a great point about how education affects how emotional someone is. In the 178th podcast, he was explaining about education as a broad topic in the inner-city school systems. As I was driving late at night, I started thinking about how it may be just as true in the gun community as well. Let’s dive into the idea of educated vs emotional.

Educated vs Emotional

When carrying a concealed firearm, it’s important to be alert but passive when out in public. The biggest mistake I see new concealed carriers make is having a level of bravado when they should curb the posturing and not bring attention to themselves. Posturing is usually a sign of being a new concealed carrier and being more emotional rather than having enough training to keep cool and observe the situation around you.

Taking different courses is the number one way to effectively invest in yourself for the future. Often times shooting courses gives you a better chance to make a self-defense situation tip in your favor. I’ve brought this point up to people in casual conversations and the biggest rebuttal I’ve heard is the idea of being “plenty ready for a situation”. I never quite understood why someone would argue against training and argue their skills are “good enough” when fighting for your life. Educating yourself and bettering your skills is an investment in your personal safety and giving you the upper hand in a fight.

Training Courses

No matter what skills you have and how often you shoot, when it comes to self-defense, it’s always good to have a student mindset rather than thinking you know everything. Whether it’s a class for beginners working on fundamentals or an advanced class working around vehicles or clearing rooms, it’s always important to push your comfort level and try new courses.

Often times guys will say they aren’t interested in taking classes because it’s intimidating or less than ideal to shoot on your own. One of the best ways to improve is going out on your own and focusing on your performance rather than worrying about what other people think about your shooting abilities. Taking something like Lead Faucet Tactical’s day or night pistol course is a great way to apply your shooting skills while learning something new. There are countless options for learning new skills depending on your budget and shooting ability.

IDPA Matches

If you’re someone who doesn’t have the budget to occasionally take a $300-600 course every 6 months, it’s ok. Don’t worry, there are plenty of other options for you to substitute a training course. Participating in something like a local IDPA match is a great way to expand your skills without paying for a training course. IDPA or International Defensive Pistol Association is an association that lets people sign up and compete in the various shooting stages. Depending on the location and resources, there could be anything from shooting out of vehicles, or into a shoot house. The stages offer a really unique experience without paying several hundred dollars for a training course.

The downside to IDPA matches is the fact you won’t have the break down of certain skills. In a training course, you will get a break down of various skills, but at least the IDPA experience offers repetitions in a number of different skill sets with each match. The IDPA matches may help guide what style of training course you’d benefit the most from instead of guessing on a particular class. It’s never easy to slowly figure out your strengths and areas of improvement and IDPA may help show your biggest weakness as a shooter.

Overall Thoughts

Whether you choose to take a few training classes or attempt to shoot at a few IDPA matches, in the end, it’ll make you prepared as a shooter. Finding yourself in a stressful situation can be a very frightening experience and without training, it can be even more terrifying with no prior knowledge. Having a certain amount of training won’t always give you the tools to come out on top, but it will give you a significant advantage in a stressful life or death situation.

Having prior knowledge and training will give you something to fall back on in a stressful situation. It’ll also give you the tools to come out on top where you might not otherwise have. Without training, people will typically panic or make choices based on emotional impulses rather than prior knowledge. Training will help in processing situations and problem solve in a non threatening environment. I know some of you may not agree with me and that’s perfectly fine, but I hope it at least gets you thinking about trying a friendly IDPA match or training course.

Let me know what you guys think about the concept of being educated vs emotional in the comments section below. If you have questions about concealed carry or anything, in particular, feel free to message me on Instagram @fridgeoperator. Stay safe out there!

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